Heading into the third and final Test with the series level 1-1, West Indies assistant coach, Roddy Estwick views tomorrow’s game as a final with England.
Estwick was at the time speaking to the media via their virtual press conference yesterday and reflected on the historic opportunity at hand to beat England in a series for the first time in over three decades as well as retain the Wisden Trophy.
“We have been constantly reminding them [West Indies players] that they got the chance to change something that hasn’t happened in 32 years, we’ve played them a few times over the last two or three years and we’ve won Test matches, we obviously won in the Caribbean,” he said while adding “We want to go one step better here in England, if we want to win that Test match we’ve got to be up for it, obviously England is going to be up for it because it’s a final. When you look at the game, it’s a final to both teams, whoever puts in a big performance will win the game.”
Estwick stressed on the significance of the match not only to the players but the supporters around the world.
“Obviously it’s a big Test match not only for people who are here in England but for people in the Caribbean, all the supporters around the world, it’s a really big Test match and a lot of people are going to be tuned in and we have got to be really up for it,” he noted.
The assistant coach explained that in order to achieve their objective, “We got to go out there and bring our A-game when we walk out on that park, plus the support staff, we got to push them, we got to make sure we are ready, we have to leave no stone unturned, we got to make sure (of) the result the Caribbean deserves.”
Estwick contended that form is not a factor at the moment but suggested that the players need to score heavily and form partnerships.
“I’m not concerned with their form…what I am concerned with is people got starts and have not gone on to get big hundreds and that’s been the difference. if you look at the last game, [Ben] Stokes and [Dom] Sibley got big hundreds and that has been the big difference in the last Test match so we are hoping once players get in they can keep going and keep getting big partnerships because I think partnerships are the key, we are getting starts, they are looking good but nobody has gone on to get big hundreds,” Estwick explained.
Looking at what is needed for the series victory, the Bajan-born coach noted “If you look at the first innings we got early wickets when we won in Southampton we got off to a decent start in the first innings with the bat also, so for me those two key areas, if you can blend that, stop England from getting early wickets and also get early wickets also that can help us get control of the game and put them under some kind of pressure.”
